Soft Referees: The NBA fails to address its subpar, emotional refereeing
The referees in the NBA are among the most scrutinized in all of the world's sports today. From questionable calls to seemingly nonsense ejections, fans have questioned the ability of the league's officials for decades.
This season, referees have received a lot of criticism, and fans have become more upset with the “softness” of the league and the calls being made. In January of this season, Draymond Green (known for being passionate on the court and an enemy to most referees), tried to throw a post entry pass to his rookie teammate, James Wiseman. Wiseman missed the pass, resulting in a Warrior's turnover and a Knick’s fastbreak. Green, being the veteran leader that he is, began yelling at his teammate and telling him what to do next time he is in that spot. The refs handed Draymond a technical for yelling at his own teammate, resulting in him being ejected from the game. Draymond’s ejection took a star player off of a struggling Warriors team, completely changing the rhythm and chemistry on the floor, and caused a momentum shift in favor of the other team.
Besides changing the flow of a game, false ejections and unnecessary calls detract attention from historic performances. On April 9th, 2021, the Celtics faced off against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In this game, Jayson Tatum put on a clinic, leading an underperforming Celtics team to a victory in one of his best performances of the regular season. Although Tatum displayed one of the most outstanding scoring performances by an individual player all year, the referees stole the show; Referee Jen Schroder called a late foul on Tatum after he stripped the ball from Timberwolves Center Karl Anthony Towns in the first half of the game. While the late foul may have caused some controversy, what upset fans most was the referees’ second call. After Tatum’s previous foul on Towns, the referees handed Tatum a technical foul for forcefully bouncing the ball in the air and catching it. However, it is clear that Tatum’s outburst was a result of in-game frustration. He should not have been called for the technical.
Sometimes a hot-headed player will scold another player too harshly or make a threatening motion in the direction of a referee, which always results in a technical. However when players on both teams are appalled by a call, it is a telltale sign that the official made a mistake. This improper officiating has become a major issue now and only seems to be getting worse. Draymond’s ejections and Tatum’s technical are just two instances in the past few months in which referees have put themselves in situations where they are not needed or wanted.
Fans want referees to make the right call–the fair call–not to change the outcome of the game because of how they feel. For far too long, the NBA has let referees make nonsense calls that have no place in the game of basketball. Thirteen years ago, Joey Crawford famously ejected Tim Duncan for laughing on the bench. Moreover, Shaquille O'Neal was ejected for dunking the ball too hard. And most surprisingly, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for looking at a ref the wrong way. Officials’ emotional refereeing is not a matter of the past and instead seems to parallel the refereeing of today’s game–Jayson Tatum’s technical foul and Draymond Green’s ejection being prime examples. However, emotions and refereeing are two things that cannot mix. After all, a referee’s job is to be unbiased and unphased with the situation on the court, and not allow the emotions of the players to alter their judgment. Clearly, the NBA has a history with questionable calls that have carried on to today’s game.
Nevertheless, fans of the NBA aren't asking for referees to be perfect. They are simply asking referees to stay in their lane. If there is no fight, if punches aren’t thrown, and if nobody is put in danger, there is no need for a technical foul. Trash talk is part of the game, frustration is part of the game, laughing, dunking, and passing the ball to officials are all part of the game. The fans tune in to see their favorite players or favorite teams, not to see referees make egregious calls for no reason!
